Orange County, Florida

Orange County is a county in Florida, United States, home to Orlando and most of Walt Disney
World, about 75 miles northeast of Tampa. It had a population of 1,429,908 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 1,528,002 by 2025, and covers 1,003 square miles (2,600 km2) centred near 28°31′N 81°19′W.

Orlando is the county seat and by far its largest city; its postal code is 32801. The county
holds 13 incorporated cities and towns, 38 census-designated places and a scatter of smaller
unincorporated communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 12095.

Towns & Villages in Orange County

Orange County has 13 incorporated cities and towns. The table below lists all of them, ordered
by 2020 population.

Beyond the incorporated cities, the county has 38 census-designated places, unincorporated
communities the Census Bureau maps but that have no city government of their own. The ten
largest, all with real populations, are:

The remaining 28 CDPs and unincorporated communities — among them Doctor Phillips, Horizon
West, Southchase, South Apopka, Sky Lake, Taft, Tildenville and Zellwood — are mostly
smaller residential subdivisions and rural crossroads without a separately published 2020 count.
Goldenrod straddles the Orange–Seminole line, so its 13,431 residents are not all Orange
County residents. Alafaya, the county’s largest CDP, wraps around the University of Central
Florida rather than forming a single town center.

ZIP Codes

• 32801 — Orlando (downtown; the city itself spans roughly 32801–32899)
• 32703 — Apopka (also 32704 and 32712)
• 34761 — Ocoee
• 34787 — Winter Garden (also 34777 and 34778)
• 32789 — Winter Park (also 32790, 32792 and 32793)
• 32751 — Maitland (also 32794)
• 34786 — Windermere
• 32826 — Alafaya (the CDP also uses 32816, 32820, 32825, 32828, 32831, 32833, 32834 and
  32878)
• 32824 — Meadow Woods
• 32837 — Hunters Creek
• 32807 — Azalea Park
• 32733 — Goldenrod
• 32809 — Pine Castle
• 32825 — Union Park (also 32817)
• 32712 — Bithlo
• 32709 — Christmas

Belle Isle, Oakland, Edgewood, Eatonville, Bay Lake, Lake Buena Vista and Pine Hills use their
neighboring cities’ ZIP codes rather than a code of their own; Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista,
the two smallest cities in the county, are both served through Disney-area codes rather than a
municipal ZIP.

Geography

Orange County sits in Florida’s central lake district, a flat expanse of pine flatwoods and
sandhills studded with hundreds of lakes. Of its 1,003 square miles, 903 square miles are land and
100 square miles are water, or about 10 percent — one of the higher water shares of any
Florida county, thanks to the hundreds of lakes scattered through the Orlando area. The largest is
Lake Apopka on the county’s northwest edge, once one of Florida’s most polluted lakes
and now the subject of an ongoing state restoration project. The Econlockhatchee River forms part
of the county’s eastern boundary, and the county sits at the headwaters of the St. Johns
River basin.

Seminole County borders Orange to the north, Volusia County lies to the northeast, Brevard
County to the east, Osceola County to the south, Polk County to the southwest and Lake County to
the west. Volusia County, Brevard County, Osceola County, Polk County and Lake County all have their own pages
on this site; Seminole County does not yet.

Demographics

Orange County had a population of 1,429,908 at the 2020 census, up from 1,145,956 in 2010, and
the latest estimate puts the county near 1,528,002 residents. Orlando and Alafaya are the two
largest communities, together accounting for roughly a quarter of the county’s population.
Median household income runs $65,784 (2017–2021 ACS 5-year), below Florida’s statewide
figure of $73,311 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 1,583 people per square mile
of land, among the densest counties in Florida outside the Miami and Tampa metro cores.

Economy & Local Life

Tourism and hospitality dominate the county’s economy. Walt Disney World, spread across
Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, is the county’s largest single employer and includes the Magic
Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Universal
Orlando, on Orlando’s southwest side, and SeaWorld Orlando add to the theme-park cluster that
draws visitors from around the world. Orlando International Airport, in the county’s
southeast, is one of the busiest airports in the United States and a major employer in its own
right. Away from tourism, Orlando is home to AdventHealth Orlando and Orlando Health’s
downtown hospital campus, and Darden Restaurants, owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse,
keeps its corporate headquarters in the city. Apopka’s nursery and greenhouse industry has
earned it the nickname “Indoor Foliage Capital of the World.” The county’s
biggest annual event is the Florida Film Festival, hosted each spring at Maitland’s Enzian
Theater.

History

Florida’s territorial legislature created the county in 1824 as Mosquito County, a vast
tract covering much of central Florida. It was renamed Orange County in 1845, the year Florida
gained statehood, for the citrus groves that dominated the local economy for the next century.
Orlando became the county seat in 1856 and was incorporated as a city in 1875.

Eatonville, incorporated in 1887, was one of the first self-governing Black municipalities in
the United States; author Zora Neale Hurston grew up there and set much of her fiction in the
town. On the county’s west side, Ocoee was the site of a 1920 attack on its Black community
after an election-day dispute over voting rights, in which homes were burned and residents were
killed or driven out; the city did not formally acknowledge the event until 2018. Citrus farming
gave way to tourism after Walt Disney World opened on 1 October 1971, an event that reshaped the
county’s economy and drove the population growth that followed through the following
decades.

Getting There

Interstate 4 crosses the county through downtown Orlando, and Florida’s Turnpike runs
north–south through the county’s eastern half. Highways SR 408, SR 417 and SR
429 form a partial beltway around metro Orlando.

• Kissimmee — about 15 miles south
• Sanford — about 20 miles north
• Tampa — about 75 miles west
• Daytona Beach — about 55 miles northeast

Orlando International Airport, in the county’s southeast corner, is the region’s
main commercial airport and one of the busiest in the country. Orlando’s Amtrak station, on
Sligh Boulevard, serves the Silver Star and Silver Meteor lines and the Auto Train to Virginia.
SunRail commuter trains stop at multiple stations through the county, including downtown Orlando,
Winter Park and Meadow Woods.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Orange County located?
It sits in Florida’s central lake district, about 75 miles northeast of Tampa, bordered by
Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Osceola, Polk and Lake counties.

What is the population of Orange County?
1,429,908 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 1,528,002.

How big is Orange County?
1,003 square miles (2,600 km2), of which 903 square miles are land and 100 square miles are
water.

What is the county seat of Orange County?
Orlando, the county seat since 1856 and its largest city by far.

How many towns and cities are in Orange County?
Thirteen incorporated cities and towns — Orlando, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Winter
Park, Maitland, Belle Isle, Oakland, Windermere, Edgewood, Eatonville, Bay Lake and Lake Buena
Vista — plus 38 census-designated places including Alafaya, Pine Hills and Meadow Woods.

What ZIP codes does Orange County use?
32801 for downtown Orlando, with dozens more across the county’s cities and CDPs; Apopka
uses 32703, Winter Park uses 32789, and Alafaya alone spans nine different ZIP codes.

What is Orange County known for?
Walt Disney World, based in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, and the wider Orlando theme-park
cluster that includes Universal Orlando and SeaWorld.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Florida.